Nigel Farage was left tying himself in knots as he tried to deny that Reform had pledged to ‘cut taxes’ during last year’s local elections.
In some campaign leaflets ahead of last year’s council elections, Reform had promised to “reduce waste and cut your taxes.”
Some of this campaign material also carried Farage’s face.
However, many Reform-controlled councils have instead raised taxes, including a 3.99% increase in Kent.
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During an interview with ITV News Meridian, Farage was challenged over the campaign leaflets and the apparent broken promises.
Farage responded that he had never promised tax cuts. When the interviewer pointed out that the leaflet explicitly said “cut your taxes,” Farage argued the phrase meant councils would avoid imposing the maximum possible increase of 4.99%.
Reporter Kit Bradshaw countered that most people would, rightly, interpret that as an actual tax reduction.
Shifting his position, Farage then said he had never, anywhere in the country, stated that council tax would be reduced. Asked whether including the pledge on the leaflet had been a mistake, he replied that he personally had not put it there.
The journalist insisted the wording was printed on the material and clearly pledged to “reduce waste and cut your taxes.” Farage maintained that nothing bearing his name had carried that claim.
Questioned about whether similar promises would appear on future campaign leaflets ahead of the next English council elections, Farage once again said: “We did not say we would cut tax,”
When he was reminded again of the leaflet’s wording, Farage bizarrely then tried to claim that Reform had kept their promise despite taxes going up.
He claimed that “cutting taxes could mean not putting them up as much I suppose,” before adding: “But I never promised cuts in council tax.”
You can watch the exchange below.
Farage has been criticised from both sides of the political spectrum for the interview.
Sharing the clip on their social media account, the Labour Party said: “He must think you were born yesterday.”
Meanwhile, Tory MP James Cleverly said Farage was “treating voters as fools.”